Road Trips: The Great Indian World Trip

Tushar Agarwal (right) and Sanjay Madan formed Adventures Overland then set out on a 70,000-kilometre road trip, The Great Indian World Trip, with the goal of interacting with Indians settled the world over and finding out how life is treating them.

PHOTO: Tushar Agarwal, Driving

Team's goal is to interact with Indians the world over and find out how life is treating them

By Garry Sowerby, Driving

Originally published: July 30, 2014

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‘We are 50,000 kilometres into it now, only 20,000 to go.”
Tushar Agarwal seems matter-of-fact about The Great Indian World Trip.
“We’ve done Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Africa, so now we only have Central America, North America and Europe left.”

Agarwal’s email is making me jealous.

Considering how far he, off-roading expert Sanjay Madan and videographer Prasad Delshpande have travelled, they seem well on their way to accomplishing their objective.

The Great Indian World Trip’s goal is to interact with Indians the world over and find out how life is treating them. Agarwal and Madan stay with them and observe how they are preserving their ‘Indianness’ while living far away from their homeland.

I’ve never met Agarwal, but have had a virtual friendship with him since he contacted me about a plan to drive from London to New Delhi five years ago. I was inspired by his vision, politeness and steely determination to follow through with his dream. Of course, I was a little jealous then too.

Agarwal and his wife Pooja completed the London-to-Delhi trek in a diesel Jeep Cherokee over a route that took them through China and Nepal. No surprise.

Nor did it surprise me when Agarwal, along with Madan, co-founded Adventures Overland through which they administered a variety of driving challenges. They broke high-altitude driving records then sold spots on road expeditions through the Indian sub-continent to adventure-driving enthusiasts.

But Agarwal and Madan had a bigger dream — to drive around the world. Their plan was to take their time and use the trek as a catalyst to check out what their countrymen are doing in far-flung corners of the globe. In the process they would produce a documentary film of the tour and raise money for SHEOWS, an old age home in Delhi, India.

I contacted Agarwal after completion of the South American leg of their journey. He was back in India sorting out Central and North American visas while their 2009 Toyota 4Runner with a 3.0-litre four-cylinder diesel was parked in the compound of the Indian Embassy in Bogota, Colombia.

Bolivia was the toughest part of their journey so far. They drove at altitudes as high as 4,800 metres in freezing temperatures. The Toyota broke down at one point in “the middle of nowhere.”

It was dark and they had not seen a town or village for hours.

To add to their dilemma, there were neither road signs nor traffic along the desolate high mountain track. That morning, they had an option to join a convoy of other tourist vehicles but in the spirit of adventure they decided to go it alone.

“But with every problem, there is a solution,” Agarwal wrote, “The people of Bolivia believe in ‘Pachamama,’ the god of nature. They say when travelling always pay respect to Pachamama and he will protect you. We did and he did!”

In short order, a car came, towed them to a village where they spent the night. In the morning they found a truck that carried them and the 4Runner on a five-hour trek to a repair shop.

Ararwal went on to explain that the people are the best part. In every single country, they have been invited into peoples’ homes, given accommodation, food and encouragement. No one wanted anything in return.

Agarwal’s remarks make me feel good. His feelings about the people along the road were the same as I felt after completing three global motoring treks almost 30 years ago.
Wars have been fought and borders have shifted, but the grassroots of the world have not changed much when it comes to hospitality.

When asked if he ever thought of quitting, Agarwal’s response, “quitting is not an option,” reminded me of the words of Winston Churchill during the Second World War that fuelled Ken Langley and I when we drove around the world all those years ago.

“Never give up. Never give up. Never give up.”

The Great Indian Road Trip is headed to the Great White North. The drive team is scheduled to arrive in Vancouver at the end of August. They will motor north to Yukon and Alaska and then south through Edmonton, back into the U.S.A. and east to New York for shipment to Europe.

I asked Agarwal’s partner Madan what led him to The Road and his answer made me smile.

“When a small boy says that he wants to travel around the world, his family and friends tell him when he grows up that will be possible.

“But when he grows up the same people say: ‘How can you do that? It’s not possible.’ ”

Check out more about this wonderful adventure at greatindianworldtrip.com